Lavillenie, fully recovered from his foot injury, is this Wednesday in Oslo for the fifth stage of the Diamond League season. He comes back to his world record, to what it has changed for him but also to new observers reflexes, which now tend to devalue his performances when under six meters.

Renaud, how can your foot injury - contracted just after your world record in February - affect your season, your shape peak supposed to occur in August at the European Championships?

From mid-June, I'll be back to 100%. August is a long way off, and if it had taken seven months to recover, I would have stopped doing sport (laughs)! There is no problem. I'm better than last year at the same period despite this injury, so I'm pretty confident.

Will you confirm those 6,16 m this summer?

Confirm ?... I don't give a damn (laughs). I have no need to prove anything to anyone, I'm just in quest to jump always a little higher. Everyone tells me to beat the record this summer because it looks better to do it outdoors than indoors, but it's lightyears from my concerns. My goal is to beat my outdoors record, so to jump between 6.05 m and 6.10 m. But it's always dependent on conditions. Indoors, there is never any problem of wind or rain, while outdoors, it's rare that the weather does not put his two cents. I will have more fun in passing 6m four times than to succeed in 6.10 m one day and 5.80 m the day after... The more I'll be regular, the more the quest of a new title will be on the right way.

Did your visual perception of 6m bars change?

No, some people will say that 5.80 m or 6m sucks because I already did 6.16 m, while even last year, 5.90 m was a big performance. We must not trivialize those heights and I do not. Even when I pass 5,80 m, I know the extent of this performance level. The only advantage I have now is that I've jumped 6m seven times. When I was trying this height two years ago, I sometimes made mistakes due to impatience. Now I am able to do it more calmly because I have more of benchmarks and I'm more used to this bar. This is the only big difference.

"I will not bring it to 6.40 m"Did traveling abroad after the world record, including the United States, witnessed a change in your status, your dimension?

It's like in France. Where ever I am, it's hard to stay alone (smile). Casually, it has an influence. Before I became Olympic champion, there was still a lot of times when I could stay alone, play sports without being too badgered ... It is now impossible. Whatever I do, there will be a lot of people behind, I have no more the peace than I had before. So, you have to be more organized, otherwise it's a mess.

One has the impression that you appear now more as world recorder than as an Olympic champion ... No doubt this is due also to the power of the bar you passed : 6.16 m is legendary, like the 9m in length ...

At first, it's brand new. I spent a year and a half as an Olympic champion, and then what happened is in a pinch rarer. It's like a new wave, it left its mark on. I almost had more feedback after that than the result of the Olympics. People well remember Sergei Bubka, he left his mark on sport in general. Nobody would have bet any euro on the fact that the world record will fall in 2014. This magnitude makes that it can not go unnoticed, otherwise it would have been illogical. When we see what is sometimes put forward ... I am told that one remembers when he jumped cm by cm, all this generation saw his records in live and did not expect to see it again soon, so it leaves its mark on.

Are you tempted, indeed, by improving your record centimeter by centimeter?

I do not have a plan. He took the record from 5.91 m and brought it to 6.16 m, I will not take it from 6.16 m to 6.40 . It will be much more complicated. It is not on the same economic times either ... I already made it one time, that's fine. If I'll do twice, it'll be very, very well. But I do not think 15 times. I do not ask me questions about that.

Do you often review the jump of your record?

I've seen it a lot, yes. Maybe not 10 times a day, but quite a few ... It's interesting to work on. Look, well ... It's handsome, it passed, there is no error, it's a good jump... But the goal is to take it and see what worked and what did not. And especially what was wrong, what could be improved so that it goes even better. There always has small things to set, it should also be used as a comparison. This is my best jump, so there will be a kind of parallel which will be done with everything then I'll realize, during training as in competition. Does it get closer? If yes, what works and what does not? The goal is to return to this course of action to do even better one day. It's not a given, but it's a great challenge."

Thanks Wan for the interview. But I think you're a bit harsh with him, I don't see how you can say that someone that has beaten the WR, was part of almost all podiums in the last 5 years, and has won 3 DLs, is not thinking enough about his personal achievement. Don't forget that European championships are two months away.

canag wrote:Thanks Wan for the interview. But I think you're a bit harsh with him, I don't see how you can say that someone that has beaten the WR, was part of almost all podiums in the last 5 years, and has won 3 DLs, is not thinking enough about his personal achievement. Don't forget that European championships are two months away.

I think you're right... But because of this new status he's always requested and can't take a lot of time to train. I'm just a bit afraid about him possibly getting feeling a bit smug.We'll see... two months to go now !

Live from Oslo, Diamond League...Pole vault begins in 5 minutes, but it's a bit windy : on the triple jump, the wind got from -1 m/s to +3.6 m/s on the first tries.I think it'll be tecnically hard for pole vaulters.The heights are those : 5.17, 5.32, 5.47, 5.60, 5.70, 5.77, 5.83, 5.88, 5.93, 5.98, 6.03I think for RL it'll be : 5.60, 5.83 and 5.93 if he succeeds in the previous heights.